Category: News (Page 94 of 130)

      Amazon nabs Zappos for $1.2 billion

      November 2, 2009 /

      Zappos boxes.This morning Amazon announced that it had closed the Zappos deal that had been rumored since July. Originally the online shoe retailer was valued at $928 million, but the final sale price was a whopping $1.2 billion. Yeah. With a B.

      Zappos was happy to announce the news as well, stating that investors were compensated for Zappos shares with Amazon shares totaling the sale price. Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh also pointed out that things will pretty much stay the same with regard to management, albeit with a few new faces around.

      We’ve been spending the past few months obtaining all the proper government approvals, and I’m happy to say that we officially closed the deal at the split second between Halloween (10/31/09) and All Saints’ Day (11/1/09). From a practical point of view, we’ve switched out our previous board of directors with a new management committee that is composed of people from Zappos as well as Amazon.

      All in all, a pretty good weekend to be in either camp here. For Zappos, you just got $272 million richer. For Amazon, you just picked up a company that sells a billion shoes a year. Yeah. With a B.

      News, Websites

      iPhone lands in China missing Wi-Fi

      November 1, 2009 /

      iPhone China Unicom.The iPhone touched down in China this past Friday night missing one big feature: Wi-Fi. China’s second largest mobile carrier, China Unicom, has an exclusive three-year deal with Apple to sell the phone.

      Starting out sales might not be the runaway figures Apple saw in the US. After all, it’s not that tough to get phones from other markets. Phones that include Wi-Fi. There have also been rumors that China Unicom hopes to sell Wi-Fi capable phones within a few months, giving Chinese consumers even more reason to hold off on buying one now.

      There was still a modicum of Apple fanaticism to be had, though. The country’s first iPhone owner, Zhi Xianzhong, waited almost eight hours to buy the phone.

      Apple, iPhone, Mobile, News

      Can’t afford the Droid? Get an Eris

      October 31, 2009 /

      Droid Eris.It looks like Verizon will be launching more than one “Droid” branded phone on November 6th. According to a leaked document picked up at Engadget, the HTC Eris will hit stores the same day as Motorola’s Droid at $199 with a $100 mail-in rebate.

      The Eris is basically a rebranded HTC Hero, though in this case running Android 1.5 with the popular Sense UI. It’s a sharp looking phone, but the processor leaves a bit to be desired. Also, no word on whether Verizon will be pushing Android 2.0 onto this thing, so you could be missing out on Google’s free navigation app. Motorola’s Droid, on the other hand, gives you a physical keyboard, much faster processor, and guaranteed Android 2.0.

      For the price, though, it’s hard to go wrong. The regular HTC Hero costs $180.

      Source: Engadget

      Mobile, News

      Best Buy cures those Droid rebate blues

      October 30, 2009 /

      Best Buy and Android gettin along just fine.If you’re going to release a great device, a gadget of any kind really, don’t bog the thing down with rebates. It just gives me reason to pause before selling anything I can find just to get my hands on it. I wasn’t so surprised to see Palm try the rebate thing with the Pre. The company really needed money. But Motorola? I figured they’d be a little better off. Thankfully, Best Buy’s decided to just sell the thing for $199.99 outright with a contract.

      This sort of thing takes a lot of the burden off the wireless stores, which tend to be small and understaffed, especially as you get more rural. It’s also just nice to be able to walk in and pay the $200 without worrying about rebates. In case you forgot, the Droid launches on November 6th.

      Mobile, News

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